The Silver Onion
by Settle4Perfection
Summary: After a simple mission to find the rumored Silver Onion turns deadly, it's up to six pikmin to save themselves from extinction.
1. The Silver Onion

Olimar and Louie ran, commanding their army of pikmin throughout this new, unexplored area. The landscape is sandy. Beyond the desert is a body of water, seemingly endless. The sun is sinking below the horizon as the world seems to turn orange. The nocturnal monsters that are feared so much are beginning their hunt. Olimar and Louie have barely enough time to reach the strange object hidden in the sand. It was another onion. It was silver and metallic. It created a blinding glare under the setting sun.  
"Olimar!" radioed the ship to our fearless captain, "The sun is setting, we're going to have to abandon quest!"  
"No," replied Olimar, "We can do this before dusk."  
"It IS dusk, Olimar!"  
"We can do this!"  
"If you won't come to me, I'll come to you."  
A large explosion was heard in the distance. The old ship Olimar uses on his expeditions flew from behind Olimar and planted itself in the sand, awaiting Olimar and Louie. Olimar ignored the ship and continued running, his army of pikmin following behind. Suddenly, an army of burrowing snagrets began appearing out of the sand. Olimar whistled as his fearless pikmin went on the offense. The once peaceful beach became a deadly brawl. Helpless pikmin were being snatched up and eaten by the merciless snagrets. The snagrets were outnumbered, but the pikmin were outmatched.

Olimar had reached the silver onion. He tapped it as it deployed out of the ground. It sprung up as a silver seed flung out of its top and into the ground. Olimar was about to pluck the newly formed silver pikmin, but a burrowing snagret popped out of the ground below him. In one solid movement, it plucked him from the ground. Captain Olimar was now in the grasp of a burrowing snagret. Louie appeared to the rescue. He had with him a red, yellow, blue, purple, and white pikmin. All of which had flowers. He tossed the purple one at the snagret's mouth. The purple pikmin latched onto Olimar, in attempt to pull him from the snagret's grasp. Under the hold of the snagret and the weight of the pikmin, Olimar slipped out of his helmet and fell to the ground. In seconds, he succumbed to the toxic oxygen. Captain Olimar was dead.

Louie was paralyzed with fear. He froze in his place, unable to move. Suddenly, the ship came to the rescue. It flew to Louie, colliding with the snagret on the way. The snagret lay on the ground, dead.  
"Louie, get in!" said the ship, ready for him to enter.  
"B-but… Olimar…" replied Louie.  
"It's too late for him, just get in!"  
Louie swiftly plucked the silver pikmin out of the ground. Instead of a nose, or ears, or gills, or hair, or red eyes, this pikmin had white wings protruding from its back. Its eyes were solid black. Louie looked back, seeing his pikmin dying in battle. He commanded the six he had with him to enter the silver onion, it was their only chance of survival. The onion lifted off the ground, ready to enter orbit as Louie entered the ship. At this point, the sun was now completely below the horizon. The ship was about ready to blast off when another snagret appeared. It plucked a hole in the ship's exterior. It had hit the engine. Various fluids leaked all over the ship's engine. A loud alarm sounded.  
"WARNING! THE ENGINE HAS SUSTAINED FATAL DAMAGE. ENTERING EMERGENCY MODE. NOW DEPLOYING POD." screamed the ship as its top shot off into the sky, followed by the silver onion.  
Rather than blasting off, the ship exploded in a blazing inferno. The blast engulfed the beach, killing everything in its path. Louie was dead. The blast had reached far into the sky. The pod, weakened, fell into the ocean with a splash. The silver onion had just barely evaded certain doom. It continued to rise into the sky, carrying the last of the pikmin species within it.

Our fearless captains are dead.


	2. Day One

Day One - The Explosion Site

The sun began to peak in the east. It was sunrise. The ferocious nocturnal animals of planet pikmin were resuming their rest. The silver onion made its way back to the surface. It landed in the spot where Olimar's ship had previously rested, in the middle of the forest about a mile away from the beach. Out of it came five of the six survivors of the catastrophic explosion that occurred during the battle the previous day. To the pikmin's horror, the red, yellow, and blue onions had been completely destroyed. Having been on the surface all night, they were destroyed by the horrid creatures that emerge each night.  
"Oh no!" said the red pikmin, "Our onions are destroyed! How will we reproduce?"  
"Calm down, Red," replied the blue pikmin, apparently a female, "We'll think of something."  
"Azula, there's only three onions in existence, and now they're gone!" replied Red.  
"We'll find a way to survive," said the purple pikmin.  
"That's easy for you to say, Purp, you come from flowers!" argued Red.  
"Your onions are just important to us as they are to you. I was a red pikmin once," replied Purp.  
"And I used to be yellow," added the white pikmin.  
"Yeah, me and Tox were spawned together," said the yellow pikmin.  
"You tell him, Static," said White.  
"You all seem fairly calm considering we're the last of our species," said Red.  
"What about this onion?" asked Purp, referring to the silver onion above them.  
"I wonder…" said Azula, "Let's check it out. Red, Static, Tox, you're the fastest. Try to get some pellets. Purp and I will stay here."  
"Fine," replied Red, "Come on guys." He lead Static and Tox away from the onion.

Suddenly, the silver pikmin emerged from the onion. It floated on its wings for a few moments before landing in the midst of Blue and Purp. It looked curiously at them.  
"Hey, it's the silver pikmin," said Purp.  
"I've never seen any of you before," said Azula, "What's your name?"  
"S-Silvia," replied the nervous silver pikmin, apparently a female.  
"I forgot all about you," said Purp, "I saw you yesterday during the battle, but not when we got in the onion."  
"Yeah, that's odd," said Azula, "I didn't see you at all last night."  
"Sorry, I was really scared," replied Silvia.  
"That doesn't make much sense," said Azula.  
"When I'm scared I turn invisible."  
"Turn invisible?" asked Purp.  
"That must be her pikmin power," said Azula, "Stealth."  
"I wish I have a pikmin power," said Purp.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well, Red can withstand heat, Static is immune to electricity, you can breathe underwater, Tox is immune to poison, and Silvia can fly AND turn invisible. I got nothing."  
"You have ten times as much strength as any other pikmin. I'd say that's pretty impressive."  
"I guess…"  
Silvia interrupted, "Where are the others?"  
"Oh, I forgot all about them," replied Azula, "I sent them to get some stuff."  
"I wonder how they're doing," said Purp.

Meanwhile, the others furiously attacked the stem of a flower. "This was so much easier when Olimar just threw us," said Static.  
"Olimar's dead, we all saw it happen," said Red, "As is the rest of our kind."  
With one final strike, the flower collapsed, letting a red pellet down. Red, Static, and Tox grabbed hold and began to make their way back to the onion.  
On the way back, they stepped over a large, blue rock in the ground with two large red circles. It wasn't a rock, it was a cloaking burrow-nit. It emerged from the ground, ready to feast. The three pikmin had seen and killed many a cloaking burrow-nit in the past. Immediately, they went on the offensive. Static hurled himself atop the monster's shell and began to attack furiously, unaware that the shell was immune to his attacks. Tox, who knew the danger of an animal's mouth, ran to the back and began to strike, unaware that his attacks were doing nothing. Red, however, knew the shell's strength and began striking at the face.  
All of this was taking place within sight of the silver onion.

Azula turned to see her three companions fighting the cloaking burrow-nit. "Ah!" she yelled.  
Purp turned, "What is it-HOLY SHIT!"  
Immediately, Azula and Purp hustled to the fight. Silvia followed on her wings.


	3. Day One Part 2

Day One - The Explosion Site

By the time Azula and Purp arrived at the scene, the fight was still going on. Suddenly, the cloaking burrow-nit captured Red in its harpoon-like mouth.  
"No!" yelled Azula.  
That's when Silvia arrived on the scene. Noticing Red was in danger, she swooped down on her white wings and pulled him from the beetle's grasp. Being lighter than him, she struggled to hold him. The cloaking burrow-nit wasn't giving up that easily. It began harpooning into the air, aiming for Silvia. In desperation, she dropped Red. He plummeted towards the ground, only to be caught in Purp's beefy arms. Just barely evading the monster's relentless attacks, Silvia turned invisible. The confused beetle had no clue what had just happened. It shook, flinging Static and Tox from its body and crept closer to the pikmin, ready to attack. Suddenly, something struck it. Silvia was attacking it whilst invisible. In desperation, the cloaking burrow-nit began harpooning randomly into the air. Suddenly, it's harpoon-like mouth was stuck in the air. Silvia had grabbed hold of it.  
"Now, attack!" yelled Azula, seeing the opportunity. The five pikmin rushed to its face and began striking furiously. Overwhelmed, the savage beast went belly-up. The fearless pikmin had killed it. Silvia became visible and landed.  
"That was amazing!" exclaimed Static.  
"Um… Thanks," replied Silvia, still shy.  
"What are you?" asked Red.  
"She's the silver pikmin we found yesterday!" said Azula.  
"I don't remember any silver pikmin."  
"She boarded the onion with us just before Louie blew the beach up."  
"Who cares? Let's just get something to eat."  
"Sounds like a plan," agreed Purp.  
Red and Purp left to find some nectar.  
"You are such bulborbs," said Azula.  
"Actually, I'm pretty hungry too," said Silvia.  
"Fine," said Azula, "Let's eat. Then we'll get this thing's corpse to the onion."  
Silvia, Azula, Static, and Tox followed behind Red and Purp.

By the time they caught up, Red and Purp were gorging on nectar which they extracted from the grass. The remaining pikmin dug right in. Afterwards, Silvia's leaf turned to a bud. But the bud was gold, rather than white or pink.  
"Hey, your leaf changed into a bud," said Static.  
"The nectar does that," replied Tox.  
"I know that, Tox, I was just pointing it out."  
Silvia looked up, "Oh. It did."  
"Congratulations, Silvia" said Azula, "Now, we should get that thing to the onion."  
The six pikmin began to make their way to the cloaking burrow-nit's body. Together, they managed to lift and carry it to the onion.

The corpse lay under the onion. Nothing happened.  
"What gives?" asked Red, "Silvia, what's wrong with your onion?"  
"I don't know…" replied Silvia.  
"Well you should know!"  
"Red, stop yelling at her!" exclaimed Azula, "She knows just as much as we do!"  
"Everybody, settle down," said Purp, "It's not the end of the world. What do we do when we're stuck on something?"  
"Olimar radios the ship for help," answered Static.  
"Static, have you completely forgotten the EXPLOSION THAT KILLED EVERYONE!?" yelled Red.  
"CALM THE FUCK DOWN!" screamed Azula.  
"EVERYONE STOP YELLING!!" screamed Purp in a much deeper, louder voice than both Red and Azula's.  
Everyone was petrified.  
"That's better," continued Purp, "OK, so the silver onion won't take the dead thing's body. What should we do?"  
"Try… putting… other things under the ship?" suggested Static.  
"That sounds good to me," agreed Tox.  
"Good. Now, what can we put under it?" asked Purp.  
"We could try those treasure things Olimar and Louie made us gather," said Tox.  
"Good idea," complimented Purp.  
"OUR onions never took treasures," interrupted Static.  
"OUR onions also took animals," contradicted Purp.  
"Good point…"  
Since Purp had screamed, Red and Azula had been doing nothing but glaring at each other.  
"Red, Azula, do you two have anything to add?" asked Purp.  
Red turned to Silvia, "You're absolutely sure you have no idea what your onion will take?"  
"I know just as much about my onion as you did about yours when you were spawned," replied Silvia.  
"When I was spawned, I knew what to put in my onion to make more pikmin," replied Red.  
"Well Silvia doesn't know, so we're just going to have to make do," said Azula.  
"If we can live that long," replied Red.

Azula was about to scold Red again when two red bulborbs came from the distance, looking for a meal. They noticed the pikmin and began to charge.  
"What are those?" asked Silvia.  
"Bulborbs," replied Azula, "They're ferocious, much more than the bug we killed earlier."  
"Let's get out of here!" yelled Static.  
"For once, Static's right," agreed Red, "With just six of us, just one of those things would devour us with ease. Two would be catastrophic. We should get in the onion."  
"Agreed," said Azula.  
With that, the six pikmin rushed into the onion. Its legs curled up just as the two bulborbs had reached it. It took off into space, safe from harm.


	4. Day Two

Day Two - The Explosion Site

The silver onion came in for a landing. It was dawn. The six pikmin exited the onion. The cloaking burrow-nit's body was now an empty shell. Something had eaten it last night.  
"Look," said Azula, gesturing towards two sleeping bulborbs, "They must have spent all night looking for us."  
"Come on," said Static, "We have a long day ahead of us. Let's go look for treasure."  
The six pikmin walked carefully past the sleeping bulborbs. Eventually, they came upon a hole in the ground.  
"What's that?" asked Silvia.  
"A cave," replied Azula, "Olimar used to take us down there. It's crawling with treasure."  
To the side of the hole were some margaret flowers. They looked strange, however. The pikmin were about to submerge when the dandelions revealed themselves to be a creeping chrysanthemum. It roared at the pikmin. The roar woke up one of the bulborbs. It sniffed a bit before rushing to the pikmin.  
Static looked back and saw the raging grub-dog, "Oh no!"  
Alerted of the two monsters, the other pikmin began to panic. When the creeping chrysanthemum and the red bulborb. Saw each other, they glared. Ignoring the pikmin, they began to fight each other, expressing their dominance.  
Azula looked up to see the two fighting, "Now's our chance!" she yelled as she dove into the hole. The other pikmin followed.

The pikmin found themselves at the bottom of a cave. There appeared to be no monsters nearby.  
Azula looked back at the other pikmin, "Tox, what do you see?"  
Tox scanned the ground with his sensitive eyes, "Uh… I think I see something! Over there!" Immediately, Tox ran to a spot and began scooping dirt away with his flower. The rest followed and did the same. Eventually, they unearthed a Coca Cola bottle cap. Purp, the strongest, was holding it alone.  
"What do we do now?" asked Red, "The research pod is gone."  
"We'll have to bring it to the onion ourselves, won't we?" said Azula, sarcastically.  
The six pikmin continued to delve deeper, looking for means of exit. Eventually, they found a geyser in the distance.  
"A geyser," said Azula, "Come on, we're almost out of here."  
On the way, the ground began to break.  
"What's going on?" asked Silvia.  
Tox looked at the ground, "Sheargrubs! Dozens!"  
"Run!" yelled Purp, still holding the treasure.  
The six pikmin began to hustle to the geyser, their means of escape and, at this point, survival. Dozens of sheargrubs began emerging from the ground. Suddenly, Static tripped. The others continued running, unnoticing Static being swarmed by dozens of sheargrubs.  
He cried in terror, "Ah!"  
Silvia turned, "Static!" She began to take flight when Red grabbed her. "Let go of me!" said Silvia, struggling in Red's hold.  
"It's too late for him, we have to go!" yelled Red.  
Azula, Purp, and Tox didn't notice Static's distress and leapt into the geyser which spewed them into the air, to safety. Static was snatched up in a sheargrub's hold. He was quickly consumed by the merciless monster. Red, still holding Silvia, hurled himself into the geyser just after witnessing the horrific sight of Static's death. Static was dead.

Red and Silvia emerged from another hole in a burst of water. There was no sign of the others nearby.  
"Poor Static…" said Silvia, free from Red's grip.  
"The yellow pikmin are now extinct. He shall be remembered fondly," said Red.  
The two pikmin began to make their way back to the onion. On the way, they found the red bulborb from earlier, snacking on the corpse of the creeping chrysanthemum from earlier. It didn't notice Red or Silvia. The two briefly looked at it before continuing.  
"You're awfully quiet," said Red.  
"Hm? Oh, yeah. I guess," replied Silvia.  
"You barely ever speak."  
"I never say anything that doesn't need to be said."  
"I get what you're saying. So, your onion doesn't take corpses. That's odd."  
"What's so odd about it?"  
"Well, you know what happens when a pikmin dies, right?"  
"Not really."  
"Our ghost flies back to our onion. When carbon-based materials are brought to the onion, the onion deconstructs it and converts its cells into a pikmin seed which the ghost then enters. Then, the onion spits out the seed to be plucked. But, due to the ghost pikmin having a new body, it loses all of its memories, leaving it with only basic knowledge such as how to walk and speak and things like that."  
"So, the yellow one, he still exists?"  
"The yellow onion was destroyed. Static is gone. Dead."  
"Oh. That's too bad."

Eventually, they reached the silver onion. Azula, Purp, and Tox were there, but no bottlecap. They appeared relieved.  
"You're alive!" shouted Purp in glee.  
"We barely made it out," said Red.  
Tox looked confused, "Where's Static?"  
Red appeared shameful, "He… didn't make it."  
"No!" screamed Tox in terror as he fell to his knees.  
"Let's just be thankful we're still alive," said Red, "Where's the treasure?"  
Purp looked guilty, "I… got a little nervous…"  
"You DROPPED IT!?"  
"I'm sorry! I didn't expect to be swarmed by sheargrubs!"  
"You idiot! Static died down there for nothing!?"  
"Red, it was an accident," said Azula.  
"Well what are we supposed to do?" asked Red, angrily.  
"Wait," interrupted Purp, "I just remembered. Before the ship exploded, the research pod deployed. It was flying into space with us. It only fell after the explosion. What if it's still on the beach?"  
"You expect it to have survived?" asked Red.  
"We can't go there now," replied Azula, "When we left for there the other day, it was still early. And we got there at sunset. The day is half over. If we leave now we can only hope to get halfway there by nightfall. But why do we need it, anyway? We don't speak its language. Olimar and Louie communicated to us through whistling."  
"Here's what I'm thinking," replied Purp, "The research pod is what stored all the treasures we collected with Olimar and Louie. What if we can somehow get them?"  
"Oh, I see what you're saying," replied Azula, "It's agreed. We'll head for the beach in the morning. Let's get us a good night's rest."  
Red, Azula, Purp, and Silvia began to make their way into the onion. Tox remained outside, flabbergasted by the loss of his best friend. Purp stopped and turned to see Tox still under the onion. He leapt down from the leg of the onion with a thud.  
"Tox," he said, "What are you doing?"  
"Just let me die," replied Tox.  
"I know Static was close to you, but you can't let this end your life."  
"Leave me alone."  
Purp sighed and lifted Tox, who was one twentieth his weight, with ease.  
"Let go of me!" shouted Tox as he struggled in Purp's hold.  
Purp ignored Tox's plea and dragged him inside the onion. Once they were inside, the onion's legs folded before leaving the ground for the safety of space.


	5. Day Three

Day Three - The Explosion Site

The silver onion came in for a landing. Out of it came the five remaining pikmin.  
Silvia looked confused, "If we needed to be somewhere, couldn't we just land there?"  
"There's a reason we don't do that," replied Azula, "You see, the planet is overrun with ferocious creatures. We assign ourselves a certain landing site because that's the most deserted one. We try to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible."  
"Oh. I see."  
"Let's not waste time. We have to go," said Red.  
"Yeah, let's get going," added Purp.  
Red, Azula, Purp, and Silvia began to walk away from the onion. Tox followed behind them, still grieving. Azula looked a bit uncertain as she walked down the leg of the onion.  
Red noticed Azula, "What's wrong?" he asked.  
"I'm beginning to have second thoughts," replied Azula.  
"Why? We made it once before."  
"Yeah, but that was when we had a lot more pikmin. Plus we had Olimar and Louie. I don't think five of us with no leader is sufficient. More than once we were almost eaten alive by some ferocious monster."  
"So what are you suggesting we do then?"  
"Take a… stealthier approach."  
"What?"  
"Silvia can fly and become invisible. Alone, she might be able to do it."  
"She wouldn't know what to do."  
"Red's right," added Silvia, "I don't even know what this thing looks like."  
"Yeah, she needs us," replied Red.  
"Well, what about Tox?" asked Azula.  
"Send him alone?"  
"No, he's the lightest of us. Perhaps Silvia can carry him."  
"That might work," added Purp.  
"Alright, but if they're not back before sunset, I'm not waiting," said Red.  
"Silvia, Tox, do you two agree?" asked Azula.  
"I think I can do it," replied Silvia.  
"Whatever," replied Tox.  
"Alright," said Azula, "Tox, get on Silvia's back. Give her directions. And hurry!"

Tox grabbed onto Silvia's back without any enthusiasm. Silvia quickly became airborne and flew off in the direction of the beach. There were many trees in the way, so Silvia couldn't see very far ahead. Tox was indolently hanging on to her, his eyes half open. Even the thrill of flying through the air wasn't enough to pry him from the thought of Static. Ordinarily, pikmin think nothing of death because every pikmin is eventually reborn. But this time Static would never be reborn. The yellow onion was gone. To make matters worse, Silvia just passed over the cave of which Static died in. Tox looked away in agony.  
"Hey, Tox?" asked Silvia.  
"What do you want?" replied Tox.  
"Which way do I turn?"  
"Right. Then keep going until you get to the river. Cross over it then make a left."  
"Thanks."

Silvia continued flying, following Tox's directions. They were making great time. They had just covered land in minutes that would ordinarily take hours to cover. It wasn't long until Silvia crossed the river by about two meters in the air. Two meters isn't much, but that's huge to a pikmin. The river was rapid and littered with rocks. It was the kind of river only Olimar would be able to lead a squad of pikmin across. Following Tox's directions, Silvia made a left. As she continued onward, she came to a huge, sandy beach. Beyond it was a large ocean that seemed to never end. Knowing the beach was clear of enemies, Silvia landed as Tox jumped from her back. The beach was dirty, littered with debris from the explosion. The explosion wasn't very powerful. It was only about as powerful as a moderate firework. But to the pikmin, that was like a nuclear warhead.  
"So this was what's left of it," said Silvia.  
"Yup. All of them, dead. Every pikmin in the world, dead," replied Tox.  
"Would you calm down?"  
"The yellow pikmin are extinct, you expect me to calm down?"  
"Yes. Now help me look for the pod."  
Tox mumbled under his breath, "Stupid bitch."  
Silvia managed to hear what Tox had said, "What did you say to me?"  
"Nothing. I didn't say anything."  
"That's what I thought."


	6. Day Three Part 2

Day Three - The Explosion Site

Silvia began to look around, but had no luck. While walking, she tripped over something. It was a piece of metal sticking out of the ground, but it wasn't sharp. Tox caught up with her. With his sensitive vision, he caught the pod in the ground. He began to dig.  
"What are you doing?" asked Silvia.  
"Digging. I found it," replied Tox.  
Silvia began to dig with Tox. After several minutes, they had completely unearthed the pod.

Sensing activity, the pod activated. Through its visual sensors, it scanned Silvia and Tox.  
"KRRZTZZRTSSHSCTZZRT ACTIVITY DETECTED. 65.7 HOURS SINCE LAST EMERGENCY MODE WAS ENTERED. NOW TERMINATING EMERGENCY MODE… ERROR. THIS VESSEL IS UNABLE TO TERMINATE EMERGENCY MODE. ALL ALLIES REPORTED KIA. SCANNING FOR LIFE… SUCCESS. LIFE DETECTED. NOW CORRECTING ERROR… WHITE PIKMIN #018 ALIVE. SILVER PIKMIN #001 ALIVE. WARNING: BATTERY LIFE FATALLY LOW. TO CONSERVE ENERGY, THIS VESSEL WILL BEGIN WORKING AT 33.3% CAPACITY. ESTIMATED TIME BEFORE TOTAL BATTERY LIFE FAILURE: 28.3 HOURS. OLIMAR, I SUGGEST YOU TAKE ME BACK TO HOCOTATE FOR RECHAR-- ERROR. OLIMAR REPORTED KIA. LOUIE REPORTED KIA. NOW ATTEMPTING TO CONTACT HOCOTATE FREIGHT… ERROR. THIS VESSEL IS UNABLE TO CONTACT HOCOTATE FREIGHT. CALCULATING… ESTIMATED CHANCE OF SURVIVAL WITH NO REMAINING ALLIES WITH FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: 0.08%. NOW DUMPING TREASURE HOARD TO CONSERVE ENERGY…"  
"What's it saying?" asked Silvia.  
"I don't know," replied Tox, "I don't speak its language."  
Suddenly, the pod ejected several dozen treasures from itself.  
"Well, that seemed simple," commented Silvia.  
"ERROR. THE CLOCK SYSTEM HAS SUSTAINED DAMAGE DURING EJECTION OF TREASURE HOARD. RESETTING CLOCK… SUCCESS. THE TIME IS 00:00. THIS VESSEL WILL NOW ENTER ORBIT FOR THE NIGHT."

Meanwhile, Tox and Silvia had just found a treasure, a playing card. It was the ace of spades. Suddenly, the pod lifted itself out of the ground.  
"FREE PIKMIN DETECTED. SCANNING FOR NEARBY ONIONS… SUCCESS. NO ONIONS WITHIN RANGE. ACTIVATING EMERGENCY EVACUATION PROCEDURE…"  
"What's it doing now?" asked Silvia, holding up the playing card.  
"I don't know," replied Tox.  
The pod floated over Tox and Silvia and absorbed them into its bottom. The playing card, fortunately, was taken up with them. Tox and Silvia were now inside the treasure hoard, which was now empty.  
"What's going on?" asked Silvia.  
"I don't know, it must think we're in danger or something. It's only done this when we needed to escape from a cave," replied Tox.

Outside, the pod was attempting to fly into the air. As it had just descended about four meters into the air, it began to short out.  
"ERROR. THIS VESSEL HAS INSUFFICIENT POWER TO ENTER ORBIT. THIS VESSEL WILL NOW RETURN TO THIS AREA'S LANDING ZONE. ACCESSING MEMORY BANKS… SUCCESS. LANDING ZONE COORDINATES RETRIEVED. NOW RETURNING TO LANDING ZONE."

The pod began to make its way back to the landing zone. Despite working at one third of its capacity, it could still fly much faster than Silvia. It was efficiently avoiding the many trees that stood between the beach and the landing zone. In just a few minutes, the pod had come upon the landing zone. In front of the landing zone was a swooping snitchbug. The pod, being unable to detect it, crashed into it. The snitchbug fell to the ground as a result of impact. The pod lost balance as its flight pattern was corrupted.

Meanwhile, the corpse of the snitchbug landed at the feet of Red, Azula, and Purp.  
"What the hell?" said Red.  
"Look up!" yelled Azula.  
Red, Azula, and Purp looked into the air to see the pod flying around uncontrollably. Suddenly, it crashed into the side of a tree.  
"WARNING! THIS VESSEL HAS SUSTAINED CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE. NOW EJECTING PASSENGERS."  
The pod, still losing control, ejected Silvia, Tox, and the playing card. Tox was falling towards the ground at an alarming rate. Fortunately, Purp managed to catch him before Tox could fall to his death. Next fell the playing card. The air resistance against its flat surface delayed its fall slightly. Finally, Silvia landed softly on her wings.  
"You got the treasure!" said Red in delight.

Purp set Tox on the ground as he walked to the playing card to examine it. Red, Tox, and Silvia followed. Azula stayed behind, wondering why the pod was acting so strangely. Its flying pattern was that of a drunken bee with epilepsy in front of a strobe light.  
"Guys? What's wrong with the pod?"  
Suddenly, a part of the pod burst open in a small explosion.  
"WARNING! THIS VESSEL IS UNABLE TO REMAIN AIRBORNE."  
The pod fell out of the sky. Azula, unable to escape in time, was crushed underneath the much heavier pod. Azula was dead.  
"THIS VESSEL HAS SUSTAINED FATAL DAMAGE. ESTIMATED TIME BEFORE TOTAL BATTERY LIFE FAILURE: 28.1 HOURS. ACTIVATING RESCUE BEACON… ERROR. UNABLE TO ACTIVATE RESCUE BEACON. TO CONSERVE ENERGY, THIS VESSEL WILL BEGIN WORKING AT 5% CAPACITY. NOW SHUTTING DOWN."

Hearing the ship's siren, the four remaining pikmin turned to see what had happened. To their horror, they saw the broken pod laying atop the splattered remains of Azula.


	7. Day Three Part 3

Day Three - The Explosion Site

"Azula!" screamed Red as he darted to the side of the pod. Purp, Tox, and Silvia followed behind him.  
The bottom of the pod was covered in Azula's entrails. Being a member of the plant kingdom, her organs were mostly a green color. Green goop was sprayed all over when she was crushed.  
"No, not her too!" yelled Red again.  
"I'm… sorry, Red," said Purp.  
"We were spawned together. We were together when we collected the chance totem in Awakening Wood."  
"I never knew you two had a history together."  
"I had a history with a lot of pikmin."  
"I didn't know too many others. I was spawned only six days ago. And four days ago I became a purple pikmin when Olimar decided he needed more power to find the silver onion. I didn't even know you guys until we left for the beach three days ago. Maybe I knew you guys better in a past life."  
"You probably did. Seven days ago we had a little incident with a cannon-beetle. Twenty two pikmin died that day. Olimar devoted the entire next day to replenishing the lost population. I knew almost every pikmin there."

"I wonder if I had any past lives," said Silvia.  
"I'm certain you did," replied Red.  
"But I can't even remember how to work my own onion. You guys knew when you were reborn."  
"From what I can tell, your spirit was in that onion waiting for a really long time. The longer you spend as a spirit, the more memories you lose. It's not uncommon for some pikmin to actually have some memories about their own past lives, but that only occurs if they were reborn within minutes of their death. And others often have dreams about their past lives."  
"I wonder why your leaders hadn't found my onion for so long."  
"Well, onions go into hibernation when it isn't safe for pikmin to inhabit the planet. This is the third period of time we've been allowed into the planet. The first was in the time when all of the landmasses were in one place and a lot of animals lived in the sea. But then something happened and the onions went into hibernation for safety. The second was when the landmasses started breaking and those really big lizards dominated everything."  
"That was a safe time?"  
"Well, the lizards were really big. They never noticed us."  
"Oh, go on. This is interesting."  
"Then, something happened that killed everything. When everything was dying, the onions went into a second hibernation. This was the longest hibernation. After the mass extinction, new creatures came about. They weren't particularly strong or aggressive, but they were smart. Really smart. And they dominated the whole world. The onions remained in hibernation. But the problem was, they didn't know how to get along as a species. They warred with each other constantly. Eventually, they wiped themselves out. With them gone, the onions came out of hibernation. But the hibernation was so long, they couldn't come out right away. That's why Olimar and Louie had to release us. The onions couldn't come out on their own."  
"How did you know all that stuff?" asked Purp.  
"I don't know," replied Red, "I must have had a lot of past lives."

By this time, the sun was growing lower in the sky. Sunset would be soon.  
"Well, let's not waste time, let's see if the treasure works," said Purp.  
"Right," agreed Red. He lifted up the playing card and began to make his way to the silver onion.  
"This is the moment of truth," said Purp.  
When Red had reached the light underneath the silver onion, he placed the playing card on the ground and backed up. Suddenly, nothing happened.  
"What the hell?" asked Purp.  
"It didn't work," said Tox, "Just our luck."  
"I don't get it," said Red, "Why won't it work?"

Meanwhile Silvia was standing in front of the snitchbug. She appeared deep in thought. Red walked to her side, "What's wrong?"  
"I have an idea," said Silvia.  
"What?"  
"Just help me lift this thing's corpse up."


	8. Day Three Part 4

Day Three - The Explosion Site

Silvia, with Red, Purp, and Tox's help, was now lugging the corpse of the snitchbug to the silver onion. Silvia was the only one with an ounce of enthusiasm.  
"Why are we doing this?" asked Tox.  
"I have an idea!" replied Silvia.  
"But the onion doesn't take corpses, we went over that," said Red.  
By now, they had reached the onion. Quickly, the onion absorbed the corpse.  
"What the hell?" asked Red.  
"Yes! It worked!" said Silvia in glee.  
"But-- but how did you?"  
"Remember, you said the onions were dormant for a long time. Perhaps it wasn't ready to accept corpses yet."  
Suddenly, four silver seeds spat out of the onion. They all plunged into the ground. Purp, with his superior strength, plucked them one at a time.  
"So… the pikmin, they're not extinct," said Tox.

One of the silver pikmin looked at Red strangely, "Red, is that you?"  
"You know me?" asked Red.  
"It's me, Azula," replied the new silver pikmin.  
"You're Azula?"  
"Yeah. I suppose I wasn't dead long enough to lose my memories."  
"That is true, she was only dead for about four minutes," said Purp.

The other Silver pikmin began examining their surroundings. Now, the sun was setting. The world seemed to turn a shade of orange.  
"Alright guys, we've had a rough day," said Silvia, "Let's get in the onion."  
Silvia, followed by three of the new silver pikmin climbed up into the onion for the night.  
"So, you lost no memories?" asked Red.  
"That's right," replied Azula.  
"You even remember your own death?"  
"All I remember is looking up to see the research pod hurdling down at my head. Then nothing."  
"So, you have wings now. That's pretty neat."  
"Yeah, but it's different."  
"So the blue pikmin are extinct now," said Tox.  
"Yeah. Blue and yellow, gone forever," added Purp.  
"Actually


	9. Epilogue

Epilogue

And thus, through the bravery of the pikmin was their species saved from extinction. Soon enough, the species population was recovered. Their survival skills had kept them alive. But they really had Olimar to thank for that. Olimar was the one who had saved them from an eternity of hibernation. It is a shame that such a great man had to die. There are those who say, "It doesn't matter how long you lived, but how you lived." Not only did Olimar save them from that, but it was his quick wit and creativity from which the pikmin learned the skills necessary to survive.

After this three day escapade, the pikmin began to live in peace again. Eventually, they dominated most of the planet. The people of planet Hocotate never did one again come into contact with the pikmin. The pikmin were free to live by themselves. Although Olimar had done great things for the pikmin, it was his presence on the planet that pushed the pikmin to the edge of extinction.

But that doesn't matter. The pikmin species continued.


End file.
